ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


330 /  October 1983

high. At the tima of submitting this communica­
tion approximately 300 questionnaires had been re­
turned.

If you have an active domestic approval plan, 
did not receive a questionnaire, and wish to partic­
ipate in this nationwide research effort, please con­
tact John Reidelbach, Chairperson, Collection D e­
v elop m ent, U niversity L ib r a r y , U niversity of 
Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182, or phone 
(402) 554-2846. A copy of the questionnaire will be 
sent to you immediately. The questionnaire can be 
completed in approximately 30 minutes.

Position responsibilities in a given library may 
necessitate that more than one person provide the 
requested information. It would be most appreci­
ated if the person initially receiving the question­
naire would pass it along to the appropriate per­
son (s) for completion.

The authors wish to assure respondents that their 
comments will be held in the strictest confidence. 
Neither library nor librarian name will appear in 
the article to be published as a result of this study. 
Furthermore, none of the vendors will be provided 
access to the individual librarian responses.

Deadline for the return of questionnaires is O c­
tober 31, 1983. Submission of the final manuscript 
to a professional journal is anticipated in June, 
1984. ■  ■

Letter
Special Collections

To the Editor:
There are two points concerning libraries' reac­

tions to difficult economic times which I do not be­
lieve have been considered by many institutions. 
The comparison between the number of users of 
Special Collections with the number of users of the 
general library is, as every Special Collections li­
brarian knows, a false standard. It is, however, the 
one that is frequently used by administrative direc­
tors in apportioning budgets. An alternative and 
more realistic analysis, or comparison, should be 
based upon the number of persons affected, or po­
tentially affected, by the uses of Special Collec­
tions.

In listening to discussions of comparisons of the 
number of users in each area, I thought of a friend 
who writes historical novels. He is noted for creat­
ing a sense of living during the time period of his 
fiction, and he therefore does extensive research in 
Special Collections departments. He would be 
counted as one researcher, or possibly the number 
of days w ould be co n sid ered , to a rriv e at 
“researcher-days.” The impact of the services pro­
vided to him by the Special Collections department 
is, however, far greater than any such statistic 
would indicate. His books sell tens of thousands of

copies, and therefore, tens of thousands of people 
benefit from, and are affected by, his work in Spe­
cial Collections departments.

W e were able to demonstrate this effect several 
years ago in conjunction with an appraisal of a ma­
jor archive. W e surveyed the approximately 600 re­
searchers who had used the collection since it had 
been available; approximately 400 responded to 
our survey. A large number were doing genealogi­
cal research, or other specific personal research, 
and there was no benefit beyond their own use. W e 
did, however, demonstrate that a significant num­
ber of articles had been published based upon the 
collection. W e were aware of several major books, 
but the number of other publications was a signifi­
cant surprise. To simply state that during a five- 
year period, 600 people use this Collection is to un­
d erstate d ra m a tica lly  the num ber of persons 
benefiting from it. The quality and importance of 
the uses of collections may be difficult to ascertain; 
however, few administrators would not under­
stand that a use resulting in a published article can­
not be equated with an individual checking general 
references in the general library.

The second point concerns fund raising. Friends 
of Libraries, and other knowledgeable groups in­
volved with Special Collections, may frequently 
make large cash contributions which are not for 
specific purchases or projects. When other groups 
are approached, particularly the business commu­
nity, it is important to relate the contribution to a 
specific expenditure or need. My involvement with 
libraries raising funds has repeatedly shown this to 
be true. Potential donors can relate to acquiring a 
specific collection (with a detailed explanation as 
to why the library wants it and how scholarship 
will benefit from its being available) or giving 
funds to process a collection after they have been 
shown the collection and had its importance ex­
plained.

Those who understand the activities of Special 
Collections will continue to make general cash con­
tributions, but those who really do not understand 
the importance of Special Collections, but are po­
tential donors, need to be told why the money is 
needed, what you will do with it, and what bene­
fits people will receive from it. You will be offering 
to these potential donors, who do not already have 
the appreciation of the field, the opportunity to do 
something worthwhile with their money that they 
are able to relate to. This approach I have found 
has had q u ite s ig n ific a n t resu lts. — K e n n e th  
R endell, The Rendells, In c., N ewton, M assachu­
setts. ■  ■